Filson Blog

Happy Birthday, Enid Yandell

Today we celebrate the birth of one of Kentucky's finest sculptors, Enid Bland Yandell, an artist ahead of her time. She pursued a career in sculpture, a medium dominated by men during the early twentieth century, rather than choosing a life of domesticity. Although Yandell was from a prominent Louisville family, she relied on her talent rather than her social standing to advance her career. Yandell also sought to improve people’s lives, not only through her artistic creation, but also through progressive thinking and dedicated service. The Filson Historical Society’s Enid Yandell Collection contains a wealth of information on this fascinating early twentieth-century sculptor, encompassing two hundred eighty-four photographs, 4.66 cubic feet of personal papers, and two busts.

Enid Yandell with her bust of General John Breckinridge Castleman, c. 1905.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky on October 6, 1869,* Yandell was the eldest daughter of surgeon Lunsford Pitts Yandell, Jr. and Louise Elliston Yandell. Her parents nurtured her artistic talent and encouraged her to pursue a professional career as a sculptor. Louise persuaded her daughter to concentrate on local personages and to brush up on her Kentucky history, hoping it would lead to lucrative commissions. The advice was well-given and no doubt led to the creation of such works as Yandell’s Daniel Boone in Cherokee Park, and her busts of Col. Reuben T. Durrett and Alfred Victor DuPont in The Filson collection.

Enid Yandell, center, in Lorado Taft’s studio, Chicago, c. 1892.

Yandell’s education and apprenticeships were the foundation of her public triumphs. Her training began at Hampton College in Louisville where she obtained degrees in chemistry and art, and continued at the Cincinnati Art Academy where she completed a four-year program in two years. Some of Yandell’s most important skills were learned during apprenticeships with noted sculptors of the day. She studied with Lorado Taft and Philip Martiny in Chicago, and with Karl Bitter in New York. In the winter of 1894 Yandell went to Paris to study with Frederick MacMonnies and other instructors at Mme. Vittie’s Academy in Montparnasse. She repeatedly returned to Paris during the early 1900s for artistic inspiration.

Daniel Boone, Enid Yandell, 1906, Cherokee Park, Lousville

Yandell’s professional career began when she was hired to design the caryatids for the roof garden of Horticultural Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition two years after graduating from the Cincinnati Art Academy. While basking in her award-winning success in Chicago, Yandell received her first public commission for a freestanding statue. The Filson Club commissioned her to sculpt a likeness of pioneer Daniel Boone. Yandell used Boone’s own hunting shirt, flintlock rifle, tomahawk, knife, and powder horn while modeling the statue. She also used The Filson’s portrait of Boone as a guide. The plaster cast of the Boone statue was shown at several exhibitions. It was not until 1906 that C. C. Bickel commissioned the work in bronze for the city of Louisville.

Yandell’s next public commission was the renowned colossal statue Pallas Athena, created for the Nashville Centennial Exposition in 1897. The Pallas Athena was vital to Yandell’s technical development as a sculptor. Colossal figures, such as Batholdi’s Statue of Liberty were quite in vogue during this period; the forty-two foot high Pallas Athena helped Yandell develop her skills, achieve considerable public recognition, and acquire needed revenue. Yandell created the plaster cast in her Paris studio. Unfortunately, it was never bronzed and was destroyed by the elements. Yandell garnered a great deal of fame from this commission, and in 1898 she was the first female inducted into the National Sculpture Society. Numerous other public commissions followed, including Hogan’s Fountain in Cherokee Park.

Yandell devoted much of her life not only to creating beautiful works of art, but also to public service. In 1908 she founded the Branstock School in Edgartown, Massachusetts, which functioned until her death in 1934. Yandell also actively supported the women’s suffrage movement and campaigned for President Calvin Coolidge. The horrors of World War I affected the artist to the point that she virtually halted her career. Yandell joined the French organization for the care of war orphans, La Société des Orphelins de la Guerre, the Red Cross, and Appui Aux Artists, which provided affordable meals for artists and their families.

Enid Yandell in her Red Cross uniform, ca. 1918

Yandell eventually returned to the United States and continued her work, serving as director of the Bureau of Communications for the American Red Cross in New York and as chair of the Women's Committee for the Council of National Defense. Her social work consumed a great deal of her time, and by 1925 she her artistic output had drastically dwindled. Enid Yandell died on June 13, 1934, in Boston, Massachusetts, and is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.

*The exact birth year of Enid Yandell is disputed between 1869 and 1870; as her passport is listed as 1869, we have chosen to go with that year.

Thank you for such an inforative article about Ms. Yandell. She is a distant relative of mine, and we are very proud to have her in our lineage. She is a great role model for our younger ancestors. My mother Mildred Yandell grew up in Marion Kentucky.

Where to Park at The Filson

The Filson Historical Society is located in the heart of Old Louisville at the corner of Third Street and Ormsby Avenue.

Parking can be accessed from 3rd St. and the alleyway off Ormsby Ave. Additional parking is available as free street parking on 3rd St., 4th St., and Ormsby Ave. Please note there is no entrance to Filson parking from 4th St.

We ask that all day patrons please enter through the Wood Carriage House. For events, attendees should enter through the Owsley Brown II Center unless otherwise noted.